August Wound Blog - The use of Collagen for effective wound management



Hello everyone, welcome to August's blog, focusing on the area of Collagen and how this is beneficial for granulating non-healing wounds or wounds you would like to enhance healing time.

A reminder of what healthy granulation tissue looks like

“Granulation tissues appearance is a healthy red-pink colour and takes on a granular appearance due to the new growth of capillary buds.

Granulation tissue is fragile and should be protected from trauma by dressings that will not adhere to the wound.”

Background on Collagen

Collagen is structurally and functionally a vital protein of the extracellular matrix involved in scar formation during the healing of connective tissues. Many collagen powders and dressings are available to enhance wound repair, particularly in non-infected areas.

The principal function of Collagen is to act as a scaffold in connective tissue, primarily in its type I, II and III forms. In early healing wounds, type III is laid down first, with the proportion of type I increasing as scar formation progresses and is remodelled.

“Collagen deposition and remodelling contribute to the increased tensile strength of the wound, which is approximately 20% of normal by three weeks after injury, gradually reaching a maximum of 70% of that of normal skin (Desmouliere et al, 1995). Although epithelial structures can heal by regeneration, connective tissues cannot and depend on the process of repair mostly by the formation of collagenous scar tissue (Berry et al, 1998), predominantly of type I, which serves to restore tissue continuity strength and function. Collagen is a brittle substitute for unwounded tissue, and scar tissue rarely exceeds.”

Because of the importance of Collagen in wound healing and assisting with wounds healing from the Granulation Phase to the Remodelling Phase of healing, we recommend using Collagen over these wounds to encourage healing time.

Indications for Collagen use

• Partial and full-thickness wounds

• Tunnelled/undermined wounds or surgical wounds

• Low to moderately exuding chronic wounds

• Management of light bleeding

Case Study

We have exciting news!

A recent case study I have been involved with using Bovine Collagen Particles has encouraged healing on a wound in a very short space of time!!

CLICK THE IMAGE TO READ THE CASE STUDY

Bovine Collagen provides substrate collagen to divert matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) digestion from healing tissues and reduces inflammation that may slow or prevent healing. The Bovine Collagen fragments offer ingredients to tissue regeneration, and the 3D scaffold structure allows fibroblasts to migrate across the wound bed, facilitating granulation, angiogenesis and tissue repair. In acute wounds, Bovine Collagen rapidly activates platelets and coagulating factors to induce haemostasis.